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SONGWRITING | |
Flyshit |
pic tony mahony |
"I'm seein' demons" is in Emajor7
(with a minor )and then also a Minor 9th. Then to a D/Gmaj7 Amajor7 with
a minor, Gmaj7 and Cmajor 7. "Midnight to dawn" is in Gmaj7 to C maj7 to F ( with a b note, sliding down from F#) . The chorus is all in A to Asus. It's all about a time. "There's the royal troll" has
a kind of latin rock beat. It starts on Bdiminished and then goes to A
(with a flattened 5th) and then D and E. Again all the chords are open
and weird. ( I don't know what they are called.) Clare sings the backing
vocal by herself. We were going for bell-like sounds rather than folksy
harmonies. I picked up a Harp and blew the solo later. We put it through
some crappy amp sound to get that blue electric wail. |
Pic Tony Mahony |
"All our friends were stars" is one of two songs recorded
with Greg Walker at the beginning of the project. We cooked up the rhythm
from an old machine , recording each sound separately. I played the guitar
and the bass and Clare played the keys. It goes from a Bsus to Emin9 to
Amsus to Dm7/9 to Gmsus to Cm7/9 to F and then to F/F#sus. It descends
in a very Euro style and sounds very discomocious with the latin beat.
Greg worked on the strings and then we laid on the b/vs. With a trowel.
I love it. Lyrically its a song about all the celebrities in the gang
of urchins I ran with when I was about 13. Smokin' fags and eatin' tons
of gum and runnin' around at the horse races and the pool hall. "Like a millionaire" is a disco track that Clare and I cooked up. The chords go from A#maj7 to Amaj7 to E7sus and then from F7 to G to F7sus. We wanted the backing vocals to be like that sound of massed voices in those modernist musicals. Like Phillip Glass or Max Roach's "Its time!". The lyric is about an artist so on top of his game he surveys the scene from on high. From the future (at the end , looking back) and also in the middle of the story. |
art Tony Mahony
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"A boy named Epic" uses a lot of maj7 chords that are also suspended. Basically E to Ato G to A. The chorus is D7sus to Dmaj7sus to D9sus to Dmaj7sus. And then further variations on D that you can figure out if you want. Lyrically its a song that revolves around an old friend called Epic Soundtracks who was a musician in the UK and beyond. He practically invented lo fi indie rock with the Swell Maps and played in Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls. An amazing collector and enthusiast of music. I don't think he would've really liked it as its a bit too R&B for his tastes. "I am your humble servant" is the oldest tune. It almost
made it to "Heroic Blues' but was a bit too spiky. It was recorded
with myself in a booth, singing and playing all at once with Bill in another
booth and Adele and Clare in another. It goes from Emin9 to A and then
Dm7 to G . The chorus is A9 to A9 with a flattened 5th to A. "Twilight of a villain" is all Clare and me. She's on
keys and I'm on bass and guitars. Its all open chords on the guitar. A
D chord that includes A/B/C/D/E to an A that has A/B/C/D and E in it.
The chorus is kinda Spingsteenesque. C7/9 to A#7/9 to F to G#7/9. |
pic tony mahony
Art Tony Mahony. Many of the songs from bothe Heroic Blues and The Brother Who Lived were "remixed, restrung and re-sung " for the album Supermodified. It is available as a digital release and digipak CD from Bandcamp. |
Hashish? | back to the beginning of Davids' songwriting story? |